Man Resentenced In Kidnapping, Murder Of Girlfriend

Darryl Crenshaw is sentenced to 78 years in prison, again, for kidnapping and murdering his girlfriend.

HARTFORD — A man who was sentenced to 78 years in prison in 2010 for kidnapping and murdering his girlfriend was resentenced Monday after the state Supreme Court overturned part of his conviction.

Darryl Crenshaw, 31, appeared before Judge Julia D. Dewey on Monday morning, just as he did in December 2010 after his conviction on charges of murder, third-degree assault and two counts of second-degree kidnapping for the brutal slaying of Ashley Peoples in 2008.

On Monday, Judge Dewey again sentenced Crenshaw to 78 years in prison.

"The court's intent was always to give a 78-year sentence," she said.

Peoples' battered body was discovered in Crenshaw's apartment in Enfield on Aug. 10, 2008. She had last been seen on Aug. 7, the day witnesses saw Crenshaw punch the 22-year-old outside a Hartford salon, according to court documents.

Both the Enfield and Hartford police departments charged Crenshaw with kidnapping and he was convicted on both counts at trial, but he immediately appealed that conviction to the state Supreme Court, claiming that there was not enough evidence to support his conviction on both charges.

The court overturned one of the kidnapping convictions in August 2014, ruling that the evidence showed Peoples' ordeal was actually one longer kidnapping, rather than two separate incidents.

"The jury could not reasonably have found that two separate instances of kidnapping occurred because there is insufficient evidence to establish that the victim ever was liberated after her abduction in Hartford," the justices wrote in their decision.

The Supreme Court reaffirmed Crenshaw's convictions on the murder and assault charges, as well as the other kidnapping charge and ordered that he be resentenced.

Dewey said Monday that she went over all the trial notes and listened to the recording of Crenshaw's original sentencing in preparation for the second hearing.

"Whether it was one or two [kidnappings], it was still a horrific event," Dewey said.

She sentenced Crenshaw to 60 years in prison on the murder charge, 18 years on the kidnapping charge and 1 year on the assault charge. The kidnapping and assault sentences will run concurrently, leaving Crenshaw with a total of 78 years to serve.

Crenshaw spoke briefly before he was resentenced, turning to face Peoples' family and friends who were gathered in the courtroom.

"There's not a prayer I made after that date that I didn't include everyone in her family," he said. "I know where I'm going to be for the rest of my life and I've accepted that."